Bypassing Art Failure
The research is clear and it likely matches your gut feeling on the matter: Art and music are vital to development, boosting critical thinking, empathy and tolerance. So is this what we’re delivering in our schools?
For Philadelphia’s 130,000 students attending district-run schools there is just 1 music teacher for around 800 students and 1 art teacher for about 700 students.
Pennsylvania State Code mandates full instruction in “art, music, dance and theater” for every K-5 student. Is the Commonwealth delivering on its own mandate?
Chronic inadequate funding plagues school districts across the state. PCCY’s doing what we can to answer the immediate needs of students today through the
Picasso Project, our arts mini-grant initiative established in 2002 to improve the quality of arts instruction.
With more than $60,000 in grants this year, the Picasso Project is funding 13 innovative arts projects at under-resourced schools. These grants improve school climate, inspire interest in the arts, and help schools find more local and state funding.
One of the grantee schools is Alexander McClure Elementary school.
This year, McClure will use their Picasso Project grant for the Hope Reading Garden, creating a mosaic reading garden in their schoolyard, created to transform the physical environment after an incidence of violence at the school.
Fifth grade students will record themselves reading popular children’s books and the recordings will be placed inside of sculptural birdhouses installed as part of a mosaic mural. The recordings will be dual language (Spanish and English) and can be listened to at the push of a button.
“I think a lot of people assume schools regularly engage in these kinds of vital projects” said Linda Fernandez, Picasso Project Director, “but a desperate lack of resources means that’s just not the reality for Philadelphia students.”
“Thanks to these grants, students are engaged in a hands-on creative learning experience and the result is a work of art that leaves a lasting impact on their lives.”
Learn more, including how you can support the Picasso Project
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“This is a dangerous situation when professionals tell us that the nurse to student ratio needs to be much lower, closer to 750 students per nurse.” PCCY’s testimony to City Council last month. This week’s news that every Philly public school will have a nurse and a counselor is welcome news, indeed.
“This is a dangerous situation when professionals tell us that the nurse to student ratio needs to be much lower, closer to 750 students per nurse.” PCCY’s testimony to City Council last month. This week’s news that every Philly public school will have a nurse and a counselor is welcome news, indeed.
“We are really glad that Superintendent Hite is prioritizing these crucial personnel. He knows that at a school like Jackson, nurses and counselors are not optional, they are essential for all kids to learn.” Melissa Wilde, a parent at South Philly’s Jackson School, lauding the Districts pledge for a nurse and a counselor for every school.